WFSE Political Blog

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The first independent attack ad in the Governor's race was launched by the Republican Governors Association. Their ad attacking Jay Inslee is below.

The RGA has raised over $73 million for the current election cycle, and their top contributor is none other than Koch Industries, who have so far contributed over $2 million. Rob McKenna says he's not like Scott Walker, but the same union-busting corporate interests that put Walker in power are also supporting McKenna. Maybe they know something...

Monday, July 9, 2012

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Gubernatorial candidates Jay Inslee (D) and Rob McKenna (R) met with the Seattle Times Editorial Board and talked about how they would control costs in state government. Both candidates have promised to increase education funding without raising taxes.

"Both candidates portrayed themselves as reformers who would shake up the state Capitol and force government to be more efficient," Jim Brunner reported.

"Inslee previewed a piece of a forthcoming government reform proposal, saying he would target a segment of middle management in state government that has grown by 1,000 percent since 1993... McKenna hit back on that idea, suggesting Inslee zeroed in on that management program because public employee unions don't like it..."

On the topic of state employee collective bargaining, "McKenna said he'd provide a strong contrast to Democratic governors who have been overly generous to public employee unions that have supported their political campaigns. 'You need a governor that is going to sit across the table from the people he is bargaining with, not on the same side of the table,' McKenna said."

"He said he'd push for more state agencies to adopt reforms they've been slow to embrace, such as allowing private competition for services such as printing and tech support. McKenna also repeated his past calls for the Legislature to be able to amend state collective bargaining agreements with unions..."

"Inslee opposed McKenna's idea, saying the governor alone should be held responsible for the contracts. 'The governor ought to be accountable and stand up on his or her two feet and do a tough, responsible deal,' Inslee said."

Throughout the debate so far, both candidates have promised to increase spending on K12 and higher education. Both candidates have talked about investments and innovations they'd like to pursue. But the truth is, none of this will come to pass until we address the problem that our revenue stream simply doesn't keep up with the demand for services.

In the Times article, McKenna said he could increase funding for colleges and universities by limiting "the growth of most state agencies to just keep up with inflation and population increases." That sounds great, but in the real world state revenues are falling while inflation and (especially) population are going up. We wouldn't have been slashing spending these past four years if revenue had kept up with inflation and population growth.

I'll be interested to see if anyone in the "mainstream media" ever asks McKenna that question. In the meantime, we can always enjoy the fond memories of current and former Governors who have been "overly generous" to state employees.

"The pillars of a successful higher education system—quality, access and affordability— are weakened with each cut," the report concludes. "If they continue to be weakened, they will eventually crumble with our children left to pick up the pieces. Like many areas of the state budget, support for higher education will continue to fall short of meeting the need unless revenue is on the table. Policymakers have tried and failed to do more with less for the past two years. And the story continues as they write the budget for the next two years."

You can sign up to receive regular updates from the Budget & Policy Center here.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Wisconsin is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to efforts to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights. As a recent article in the Olympian pointed out, while public attention was focused on Scott Walker, 30 states plus Puerto Rico passed 69 bills limiting public sector bargaining rights in 2011.

About Me

The WFSE Political Blog is a site providing updates on what's going on in politics and government that's of interest to WFSE/AFSCME members. Blog content is compiled and posted by the staff of the WFSE Legislative & Political Action Department. The LPA staff are: Dennis Eagle, Director; Alia Griffing, Lobbyist; Matt Zuvich, Lobbyist; April Sims, Field Coordinator; and Diana Whitmore, Administrative Assistant. Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Post a comment or write to lpa@wfse.org.